Sports Equinox

The planet earth experiences two equinoxes each year.  They occur in March and September and result in there being exactly the same amount of light and darkness during the 24-hour period.

If there were such a thing as a pre-determined media equinox, it might fall on election day, or Super Bowl Sunday, when we get what seems to be at least 12 hours of coverage of a singular event.

A friend of mine recently pointed out to me that the annual sports equinox was coming up.  I didn’t know there was such a thing.  He explained that it occurs annually when all four major sports are in-season at the same time, all with games on the same day or night.

This year, it’s going to be next Monday, on Oct. 21-22, when there is an NFL Monday Night football game, followed on Tuesday by Game One of the World Series.  Tuesday will also feature a full slate of National Hockey League games, along with the opening of the National Basketball League’s regular season.  Maybe the sports equinox should be defined as the time when all four, and five if you include college football, are going on at the same time rather than a singular 24-hour period.  That would mean the sports equinox would run from Oct. 22 through the last game of the World Series, with Game 7, if needed, scheduled for Oct. 30.

While it’s not recognized as an official – or even unofficial – holiday or time period, it has the makings to be one of my favorite days or weeks of the year.